Electronic marketplaces, such as those accessible via the Internet, may include a catalog of items or products available for purchase. These items may be offered as the basis for commerce (e.g., sale or trade). In one example, customers may utilize a web browser to visit a merchant's website, select an item for purchase from the catalog, and engage in a checkout process to finalize an order for the item. The merchant may operate a fulfillment network including various facilities in order to process such orders. For instance, the merchant may operate a facility that prepares shipments of purchased items. A shipment carrier may acquire such shipments from the merchant and deliver the shipments to the respective purchasing customers.
Typically, varying workloads may require varying levels of resources for both merchants and shipment carriers. For instance, if the quantity of orders processed by a facility within the merchant's fulfillment network dramatically increases, the merchant may increase the quantity of labor within the facility in order to prevent processing delays. Similarly, if the quantity of orders processed by that facility substantially decreases, the merchant may decrease the quantity of labor within the facility in order to avoid unnecessary expenditures on labor. Shipment carriers may also tailor their operations dependent upon the workload of merchant facilities. For example, if the quantity of outgoing shipments at a merchant facility substantially changes, the shipment carrier may change the quantity of delivery vehicles sent to that facility to pick up shipments.
While the system and method for generating shipment forecasts for materials handling facilities is described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that the system and method for generating shipment forecasts for materials handling facilities is not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the system and method for generating shipment forecasts for materials handling facilities to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the system and method for generating shipment forecasts for materials handling facilities as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.